Review: Playing Trains at the National Railway Museum

A couple of days ago we were lucky enough to don peaked caps and, together with some other families, test drive the new Playing Trains exhibition at the National Railway Museum. Surprisingly – for such a family-friendly museum – it’s the first time that they’ve staged an exhibition aimed firmly at children. Unsurprisingly – given the usual quality of the museum’s events and activities – it’s fantastic.The colourful entrance to the exhibition space, covered in the lovely playful illustrations by Sam Usher, acts like a magnet to passing children: it’s impossible to resist the pull to head in and embark on a journey of rail-related discovery. There’s lots to do and see; our little vikings particularly enjoyed dressing up as train drivers and pretending to take their passengers to the zoo, sounding a train whistle (about a thousand times – apologies to fellow visitors for that!), pretending to be trains going through a tunnel and looking at the model trains. They also loved playing with the toy train tracks, and would have played with them for hours given half a chance. Unfortunately we had to head home, but with the exhibition running until the end of the summer, I know we’ll be back.Playing trains runs at the National Railway Museum, York, until 4th September 2015. Entry is free. For more information, visitnrm.org.uk/playing-trains